Luma Solar has gained a prominent customer as the Yale University Divinity School has selected a 200 kW Luma Solar roofing system for a residential building for students.
The system was built with Luma Solar’s 100-watt solar shingles, each of which has an integrated solar panel with an efficiency of 22.1%. The shingles provide a nearly uniform appearance across the entire roof, due to Luma Solar’s closely matching solar and non-solar shingles. Non-solar shingles are used at the edges of each roof plane.
The Michigan-based company has completed more than 200 roofing projects to date, predominantly on single-family homes. One customer, the private school Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut, has selected Luma Solar roofing systems for nine of its campus buildings.
Luma Solar has been making solar roofing shingles using hand-operated manufacturing equipment since 2007, said the company’s President Robert Allen, who has worked in commercial and residential roofing for many years. “As demand continues to grow, we anticipate incorporating automation into the production process,” he said.
The Luma Solar metal roofing system “is inspired by an older roofing method known as Bermuda-style roofing,” Allen said. “Unlike the more common standing-seam metal roofs, which are installed vertically, Bermuda-style roofs are installed horizontally.” But as with standing-seam systems, Luma shingles “are secured using clips and screws rather than exposed fasteners,” he said.
A spokesperson for project designer Bruner/Cott Architects said the Luma Solar product was selected in part because it blended in with both the slate roofs of neighboring buildings and the terracotta tiles and metal window frames of the student residential building.
Allen said the cost of a Luma Solar roofing system is comparable to that of a slate roof with added solar. The roofing system “functions as both a custom metal roofing system and a fully integrated rooftop solar system, placing it at the higher end of the roofing and solar market. Many customers view it as a long-term investment: a durable, engineered roof that also produces electricity for the building beneath it. Most Luma customers choose the system for its combination of performance, longevity, and architectural aesthetics.”
The Yale Divinity School project does not have any north-facing roof surface, representing a design choice that helps maximize solar generation. Instead, as described by the architecture firm’s spokesperson, the form and massing of the building twist from a gable roof configuration on the south elevation to a shed roof on the north elevation.
The building, besides having rooftop solar sized to match its year-round electricity needs, has two other sustainability systems as reported by Yale Alumni Magazine. One system collects rainwater for irrigation and laundry, and another collects and treats water from showers, sinks and washing machines for reuse in toilets.
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